Foothill’s One Error Is Costly : Westminster Gets the Big Break in a 7-0 Victory

All Foothill High School Coach Ted Mullen was trying to do Thursday night against Westminster was avoid a costly mistake.

With senior quarterback Chris Fergus out with an injured ankle, inexperienced sophomore Tom Hawkins was running the offense.

So the sixth-ranked Knights stayed mainly with the running game, though it produced only 90 yards. Hawkins passed only 12 times, completing 3 for 54 yards.

But even with Mullen’s precautions, Foothill made one costly error.

Westminster capitalized on a fumbled punt to take a 7-0 win in the final nonleague game for both teams at Westminster High School in front of 2,500 spectators.

Westminster (2-2-1) wasn’t exactly playing wide-open football either.

The Lions, who started the season as the top-ranked county team in the sportswriters’ polls and 17th in the nation in USA Today’s poll, won the opening toss and elected to kick off.

The decision worked, sort of.

After receiving the kickoff to start the second half, the Lions were only able to get one first-down before punting.

Foothill’s Tom Heil and Glenn Takabayashi couldn’t handle Troy Rossean’s 38-yard punt at the Foothill 27, and Westminster’s Benny Mendoza recovered.

On first-down, senior Mike Cover broke through the left side of the Knight defense for a 25-yard gain to the two were before being forced out of bounds. Two one-yard dives later, Cover scored with 6:59 left in the third quarter.

“We didn’t want to make a mistake and give them a cheap one,” Mullen said. “But that’s just what we did. When you have an untested sophomore quarterback out there, you can’t take a lot of chances.”

Even in the conservative mode, Foothill (3-2) almost tied the score.

But, the Knights’ one serious drive ended in frustration early in the fourth quarter.

Senior running back John Fischbeck finally found some room after being held to 6 yards in 11 carries in the first half. He gained 34 yards in 4 carries and with the help of a personal foul on the Lions, the Knights drove to the Westminster four.

The drive was costly though, as Fischbeck injuried his knee in a collision with Tom Leach on the four after an eight-yard gain and was helped off the field.

On third and goal, Hawkins completed what appeared to be a touchdown pass to flanker Steve Koehl, but a holding penalty pushed the ball back to the 14. A third-down pass was incomplete and the Knights’ 28-yard field-goal attempt was wide to the right.

Fischbeck, who came into the game as the county’s seventh leading rusher with 497 yards in 99 carries, was held to 32 yards in 18 carries. After his first five carries, he had totaled minus seven yards.

“We didn’t key on him,” Westminster Coach Jack Bowman said. “We just played man defense and tried to stop them as best we could.”

The Lions had 200 total yards, only 76 in the first half.

Quarterback Mike Austin rushed for 41 yards in 14 carries, including gains of 21 and 7 yards in the final three minutes to keep the ball away from Foothill.